Min Jin Lee on “American Hagwon,” Her First Novel After the Phenomenon of “Pachinko”

Min Jin Lee examines the enduring nature of the diaspora experience, framing it as a permanent, global condition rather than a temporary state of displacement. Her latest novel, *American Hagwon*, explores the pressures of education and social mobility through the lens of Korean families navigating new environments. By blending meticulous research with the structure of the social novel, she seeks to document the lives of ordinary people often overlooked by traditional historical narratives. Her creative process relies on deep immersion in the lives of her subjects and a disciplined daily ritual of reading the Bible to cultivate moral depth. Through her work, she challenges the misrepresentation of Korean identity, arguing that literature serves as a vital vehicle for moral inquiry and a way to bridge the gap between specific cultural experiences and universal human truths.